Regeneration Question

Diamond Cross

Banned
Banned
Does regeneration affect the effects of alcohol? If yes, how would it?

For example, would it prevent a person with this power from getting drunk at all?
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Do't know what system you'replaying but usually inebriation has an effect on stats and attack scores, not Hit Points. Regeneration effects hit points not anything else.

So I'd say no.
 

But then again, if you're into comic books, I'd say the remarkable healing abilities Wolverine has have been shown time and again to get him over being drunk in a very quick manner to the point where he has complained about how big a bar tab he has to run up to feel anything.

So.... It all depends on the system, I suppose.
 

The thing is though I've never seen a power write up for Regeneration that actually is effective to alcahol poisoning and drunkeness.

At least that I can remember.
 

From a real-life biology standpoint, no. Alcohol doesn't make people drunk by damaging or destroying tissue (though it can do this as well). Rather, it acts as a neurotransmitter, "telling" neurons to do stuff they normally wouldn't do. Similarly, hangover isn't due to damage either, but due to a variety of byproducts from the breakdown of ethanol.
 
Last edited:

Frankly, I'd categorize alcohol along with knock-out poisons and similar items.

However, in 4e, that would mean a save every round to throw off the effects so it doesn't model alcohol well. In that case, perhaps a variant of the disease track would work (make saving throws every hour to move along a condition track).

But yeah, in most game systems I've seen, regen means healing wounds, not necessarily getting rid of all status effects.
 

Alcohol is a poison. Just because people enjoy the effects of alcohol doesn't mean it's not.

4e doesn't model poisons very well, and I don't think it has regeneration do anything but heal hit points, so I guess it wouldn't affect it. As counterintuitive as that is.

If you're playing a different game, then alcohol absolutely has a short-lived effect, if it has one at all. Just because it's not in the rules doesn't mean it doesn't happen. After all, do you really want a 400 page book telling you how the rules apply in every single situation? How boring!
 

Alcohol is a poison. Just because people enjoy the effects of alcohol doesn't mean it's not.

Paracelsus wrote, "Everything is poison, there is poison in everything. Only the dose makes a thing not a poison." And he's by and large correct - too much of any particular chemical in your system is going to do you some form of harm.

In game terms, though, poisons are usually things that have notable effects at or close to combat timescales. Alcohol doesn't - its effects typically come and go more over the course of hours than minutes. So, treating the condition differently than the game treats most poisons seems warranted.
 

Depends on how regeneration works.

Does it reknit flesh? Then no.

But it varies depending on the system (or fictional world). In Marvel comics and the Heroes TV show, regeneration includes resistance to disease and poisons, so it would prevent drunkenness. In DnD, regeneration simply gives you back hit points, so no, it would not work.

In Mutants and Masterminds, flat regeneration probably wouldn't make you immune to being drunk, but you could buy a power to go along with it (call it another aspect of regeneration) and therefore you could say your regeneration means you can't get drunk.
 

Remove ads

Top